The Fight of Eight
by Secretly.I.am.Number.Nine
Summary: /My version of The Fate of Ten/ New York City is in chaos, Nine and Five are in a fight to the death, Ella is once again kidnapped and with a terrible charm, and now Sam is gaining legacies. Meanwhile, in Calakmul, Eight was brought to life by Lorien itself for a few moments, only to be once again lost to the void. Tensions rise as the final stand approaches.
1. Chapter 1 - Nine

**A/N - Hi, everyone! I recently finished reading The Fate of Ten, and I thought of some things that I would have put into the book instead. So, I'm now making my own version of The Fate of Ten that I call The Fight of Eight! This first chapter is a bit shorter because I just wanted to get the story on the site to start, but anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The window does not resist the weight barreling through it. Five and I got tumbling across the floor among the broken glass; loud noises erupt from outside where Setràkus Ra, Ella, and John are still skirmishing.

I focus my attention back on Five who is starting to stand up next to me. I drive him into the wall behind the reception desk, and he blasts through it and into the next room. As I run toward the hole his body made, Five comes flying out of the room, grabs me by the shirt, and lets me go once we are outside. I slam head-first into the UN stage with a loud thud, and Five quickly charges me again. I roll to the left to avoid his attack and notice John racing up a staircase attached to a pearl-shaped pod. I want to help, but I have a more important matter on my hands: a chance to kill this son of a bitch traitor. I jump to my feet and quickly duck under a punch from a now metal Five. I grab his extended arm and fling him over my shoulder then into the ground; the pavement cracks underneath his body, and his skin returns to normal. Five tries to get to his feet, but I throw punches at his face until I start to see blood.

"Today is the day you die!" I scream.

I feel a tug on my shoulder, and I turn to see Sam standing there. "We have more important matters than Five right now!" he yells to me over the roar of the fighting.

Five takes my moment of falter to escape my grasp. He turns metal and punches me in the gut, sending my rocketing into the UN building's front wall. He charges me again, but I manage to slide to the ground before he gets to me, and his fist slams into the wall a few inches above my head. I kick Five's feet out from under him, and he hovers just above the ground before he can hit it.

I see Sam running at me once again, but this time he is frantically pointing toward the sky. I look up to see scout ships pouring from the Anubis' docking doors. The ships quickly descend into the city, presumably bringing Mog soldiers with them.

"Shit," I whisper, realizing that New York is in a lot of trouble, nevertheless us.

Before I can take in any more information, I feel my shirt tugging at my body, and I go soaring into the sky. Five has grabbed me and is carrying me indefinitely high above the ground. His eyepatch falls off his face, falling to the ground with the two balls he stores there following; Five is now back to his normal skin. I begin to rake at his body, but it's hard to do anything while you're traveling at unknown speeds and are being carried by the back of your shirt.

"Are you crazy?!" I yell at Five.

He immediately stops and looks me in the eyes. I can't help but cringe at his empty socket: a dry, irritated mess. His other eye glares me down with hatred.

"You don't know the shit I've been through," he says angrily.

"Oh, what, being pampered by the Mogs and killing one of our people?" I retort.

"You know I regret that! You know it! You fucking know it, Nine!" Five screams, and he lets go of my shirt.

* * *

Not many thoughts pass through my head as I plummet to almost certain death. As I get closer to the pavement, I begin to frantically use my telekinesis to slow my fall. I can't do much to help. I close my eyes and prepare for the slam. I think of the others, of Six and John, of how they're going to suffer through realizing another of the Garde is dead.

But I don't die.

I pass through the concrete and crash into the water in the sewers underground. My body aches from being slammed into the water, but I'm alive. I remember the purple pebble from my chest that could phase through objects. I just gained a new legacy.

Above me, I can hear people screaming and gunshots. I look around for an exit but there are none in sight. I decide to walk onto the ceiling of the sewer tunnel and focus all my attention on traveling through the concrete and onto the street above me. My head begins to pound, but eventually I the feeling that my feet have gone numb, and soon that travels through my whole body. Soon I am back on the New York streets; humans are running around in a panic, and I see Mogs nearby shooting at some of the innocent people.

Before I can move a few feet, a huge weight comes crashing into me from behind. "You survived that fall? Lucky son of a bitch," a familiar voice says.

I twist over and slam my fist into the side of Five's face, and he reels back in pain. "Never, _ever_ , call me that again," I say firmly.

A Mog's blaster fire whizzes by my ear, and we both look up to see a group of about twelve Mogs running at us. Five flicks his wrist which sends four of them flying into the air; when they land, they disintegrate into ash. I sprint at them and take down two Mogs as Five flies into another, plunging his hidden blade into the Mog's skull. I use my telekinesis to take out a few more Mogs, the ash beginning to cake my body. Five grabs the last Mog by the neck and slams its head into the ground, a cloud of ash forming where the Mog was standing just a moment ago.

As Five rises to admire his work, I slam into him and he falls to the ground. Before I can reach Five for another blow, I feel myself being pushed back by his telekinesis. I fight back with my own and my body strength, but Five wins out. I am thrown back and smack into a hot dog stand on the side of the road. I quickly stand up and run for the building behind me, using my anti-gravity to run up the side of it. Five follows pursuit in flight. On top of the building is a pit of small pebbles which make it harder to keep balanced; a pile of metal lays by the roof door. Five lands on the pebbles across the roof from me.

"So, Nine, do you think you can handle any more of this beat-down?" Five asks tauntingly.

I scowl at him to make sure my hatred shows clearly. "You killed my friend," I start, "I will never forgive you, and I will never stop fighting you until the day one of us dies."

As if on cue, a giant shadow grows on the roof until a piken larger than any I've ever seen fills its spot. It roars in my face; the breath blows my hair back and out of my face as a few drops of slobber land on me. The beast roars again, but this time in pain. I see Five with his blade in the beast's right thigh. While the piken is distracted, I run to my left and grab a piece of sharp metal from the pile. I then run to the piken and drive the metal directly into it's head. The beast bellows in pain and falls to the ground as it turns to ash.

I notice Five has disappeared, and I instantly tense up. I focus on my surroundings to look for any movement, but I can't sense anything. I take the opportunity to go back down to street level and start fighting Mogs.

While Five and I were fighting, it seems like the city has either been evacuated, or everyone has been killed. There is little commotion besides the sporadic gunfire and Mog blasters. Then I hear a scream from a nearby alleyway. I run to it to find two Mogs with their backs facing me. Before I can do anything, one of their blasters floats up above the Mog's head and is flung toward me; the same happens for the other blaster. The Mogs look just as confused as I am. I run forward a slam the Mogs together with my telekinesis, and they instantly turn to ash.

In the spot the two Mogs were blocking is a girl on the ground who looks about sixteen. She has dark skin and curly, black hair. Her dark brown eyes are piercing mine; her gaze never falters. I see that she is shaking, but she is trying to hide it. She slowly stands up, never breaking eye contact.

"Who are you?" she asks cautiously, one hand raised as if ready to use telekinesis.

"Answer this first: did you just move those guns with your mind?" I respond.

"What's it matter to you?"

I squint my eyes. "I'm Nine; I'm one of the Loric those Mogadorians are trying to kill."

"Do you know John Smith?"

"How do you know his name?"

"I'll take that as a yes. It's all over the news, dude. Everybody knows about John Smith now," she says.

"How did you move those guns?" I ask more forcefully this time, taking a step toward the girl.

"I don't know, it just happened. I was about to get shot, so my defenses took over I guess."

"You need to come with me; John needs to know about this," I say and grab her arm.

She pulls out of my grip and I turn around to face her.

"Why should I trust you?" she asks.

"You don't have to trust me, but if you don't go with me then I could easily snap you in half," I respond.

"That's a little much, don't you think?"

"Just c'mon," I say, and I leave the alley.

The girl follows, now close on my heels. "My name is Daniela by the way, but you can call me Dani," she says.

I turn and look at her. "Well, Dani, welcome to the Garde."


	2. Chapter 2 - John

**A/N — Hey, everyone! Chapter two is here! I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

Sam and I continue to run toward the outer edge of the city. All around us, fires are blazing, buildings are collapsing, and the sound of gunfire burns through my head. The people we rescued are holding their own as some of them thought to grab their pistols before they escaped from their homes. There are about thirty of us now; the two police officers on Sam and my tails, two men and a woman in the rear waving their pistols around and shooting at leftover Mogs, and a bunch of shivering and scared people in the middle of our protection in a clump.

A scout ship whips around the corner in front of us, but I quickly bat it down with my telekinesis. Sam is using his newfound power to keep debris from falling buildings from landing on our group. My natural urge is to turn around and head toward Central New York to put up a fight, but I know the main priority is to keep the citizens out of harm's way.

The policemen guide us around the next corner to where the Brooklyn Bridge is. We sprint to the bridge with Sam and me now guarding the rear of the group. As we approach the bridge, a flash of metal shoots across the sky. I originally think it's a piece of a building gone flying from the explosion of the Anubis' blasts, but then I realize it's changing directions at will.

Five slams down into the pavement in front of Sam and I, the pavement under his feet cracking from the force of his landing. He slowly looks up, and I notice his eyepatch is missing. In his hand are the metal and rubber balls; I guess he can't store them in his eye without something to cover the hole. The eye he still has is glaring at me with a mix of hatred and longing as if he feels sorry for me. He looks back down at his feet, and when he looks up again, he begins to talk.

"So, Four, I assume you still don't trust me," he says.

"Why should I? You killed Eight and prevented me from killing Setràkus. In fact, I _saved_ Setrakus cause of your words," I respond.

I can feel Sam tensing up next to me.

"I want to fight with you; not against you, not for you, but with you. I want to be treated like one of the Garde again," he says.

I stare back at Five, not challenged by his lack of an eye. I can see that he actually cares and that he means what he says. The hard part is if I can trust him again after all that he's done.

"Listen, Four. What I told you back at the UN meeting saved Ella's life. You know that—"

"It also got her captured again," I interject.

"Not the point, ass— never mind. Just, you know I wholly regret killing Eight. It was an accident for all that matters; it was supposed to be Nine who died! I was just as shocked as the other three when it happened… I've made too many mistakes, but I just want to be trusted again. Will you take me in?"

I continue my stare into Five's eye. He does truly mean it. He feels regret for what he's done. I break my stare to glance at Sam. His face is blank like mine, but he looks wary; he still doesn't trust Five. And I can't take the chance of losing another friend.

"I'm sorry, Five, but I can't trust you. There's been too much evidence going against you," I say solemnly.

Five's expressions immediately turns dark again. "Some day, Four, I will prove to you I'm trustworthy. I will save your life, and you'll see that I'm not the traitorous scum you think I am. Just wait," he says as he takes off and flies away.

I take a deep breath. I don't care what other people think because deep down I do believe in Five, but now is not the time to mend broken bonds; this is war time. Sam rests his hand on my shoulder, and I turn to face him.

"I know that was hard on you, but he can't be trusted," he says.

"I know… It's just—never mind. It doesn't matter; what does matter is that we see that all of those people are safe," I say and point toward the opposite shore where I can see thousands upon thousands of now refugees of an alien war. "We have a lot of work to do."

* * *

Who else would we find in charge of the rescue camp other than our favorite FBI personnel herself: Agent Walker. Sam has gone off to find a phone to call the other Garde while I update Walker. She's aged a lot even since the UN meeting; she has gray streaks in her hair and massive bags under her eyes. Her left arm is in a sling, and a bloodied bandage is wrapped around her right calf.

"I can heal those for you," I offer.

She looks past me and through the tent flap. I follow her gaze and see the many people lined up in front of the medical tents; doctors and nurses are running around trying to help everyone they can. Some of the people have missing limbs, some have large lacerations, and others are pale and look panicked.

"I think I'm in good enough shape," she responds solemnly. "Listen, John. The capitol was evacuated of all important figures who were not MogPro and relocated to a secret base. They took Malcolm and his equipment too, so he's safe. The president is there and wants word with you. If you can make peace with the president, I would bet anything they would give you the whole of the US army force to back you up."

"And why should I trust you? Are you in charge of all these operations?" I respond.

Walker lets out a laugh. "You don't know anything about federal groups, do you? I'm just the communicator, John. They think it's safer to have someone with history with you—"

Now I let out a laugh. "What, are they scared? Are they scared a little teen is going to pound them into the dust? I don't want to fight with you guys, I just want the help. I'll try to make nice with the president, but I can't promise anything."

"I don't think you understand. Just—watch this," Walker says and clicks something on her laptop screen.

A projection shows up on the wall behind her of a YouTube video. On the thumbnail is Setràkus Ra. Then the video starts to play.

"To the leaders of Earth this message may reach," Setràkus Ra's voice booms through the tent, "Following the rather… unfortunate… events in Beijing and New York, I hope you have come to find that Mogadorian Progress still wishes to continue in peace. The attacks on Beijing and New York are just reminders of what we can do if you do not comply with our rules. If you do follow along, you will have nothing to fear. The compromises for these attacks on Mogadorian Progress? Simply two things; first, surrender your cities in the next forty-eight hours, or we will destroy them like we did Beijing and New York; second, we are aware of the US protecting Loric terrorists called the Garde. Any country in the act of helping these Garde will be considered in an act of war against Mogadorian Progress, and we will not shy from attacking these countries. If you do not hand them over within forty-eight hours, we will begin to ravish every city until the Garde are dead. This goes for the new human-turned-garde as well. All of them must be turned in to me within forty-eight hours, or we will destroy whatever is in our path. Again, you have forty-eight hours to surrender and turn in the Garde, or we will take everything by force…"

I turn to Walker skeptically; this may all be a ruse to trap me and take me to the Mogadorians.

Walker sense my tension and laughs, "John, don't worry, we are on your side for now."

"For now?" I ask.

"The US doesn't want to surrender to the Mogs, but if we can't fight back then why should we bother risking our citizens' lives," Walker says.

I sigh. "They're making a mistake not siding with us. We can fight the US way easier than we can fight the Mogs."

"And I know that, but they don't. They don't believe me, and they surely won't believe you until you can prove it."

I turn away and look out the tent flap. Sam is still out there somewhere looking for a phone. My mind is racing from everything I have to decide. How can keep Setràkus from bombing more cities in two days? What do I do about Nine who is still missing somewhere in the city? Should I have trusted Five when he told me to? How can I save Ella from the Anubis? There are so many things wrong to think properly.

Just then, Sam comes into view in the mess outside the tent. He is talking on the phone and waves me to come join him.

"I'll be back soon, Walker," I say as I leave the tent. I can hear her call my name, but I don't care. I have more important matters right now.

I reach Sam, and he hands me the phone. He has a grave look on his face.

"Six?" I ask into the phone.

"John!" Six's voice says back, "It's so good to hear that you're okay."

"Yeah, Sam and I are fine, but we still don't know about Nine. I'm thinking I have to go back in there to find him."

"You do whatever you think is right, John, but we have a problem over here. One of Ra's helpers, Phiri Dun-Ra, stole a part to our ship, and now we can't leave."

"Can you not track her down?" I ask.

"We could, but I feel like that's a waste of time. Sam told me about everything going on there."

"Not everything," I say and continue to explain everything I learned from Agent Walker.

"Shit…" I hear Six mutter through the line.

We both stay quiet for a minute to think about what the next step is.

"Okay… Walker mentioned the base where Malcolm is. I think we should try to meet up there to regroup and figure out what the plan is going forward. We need to try to win this war in the next two days," I say.

"Sounds good to me. We'll go track down Phiri and fly to the base once you get its location."

"Sounds good. And Six… Don't die. We need you," I say.

There's a momentary silence on the other end. "I'll try my best," she says.

We hang up, and I take a breather. Now I need to call Sarah. I sit down on a bench along the East River. I dial her number, and she picks up after the first ring.

"John?" she asks frantically.

"Sarah," I say, relieved to hear her voice.

"You don't know how great it is to hear your voice. I've been worried sick," she tells me.

"I could say the same."

"But you didn't know where I was or what was happening. I—knew what was going on in New York. I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to talk to you again."

"Sarah, I… I have to go back into the city. Nine is still in there," I say.

There is only silence on the other end, and then a sigh.

"Do whatever you think is right, John. Just don't die. I need you," Sarah says. "There is something I do need to tell you though. We found GUARD."

Sarah continues to explain about Lexa and where she's been and why she's stayed in hiding. I'm just glad we have another ally.

"Sarah, can you guys get to the New York rescue camp as soon as possible? You can pick Nine, Sam, and me up, and all of us can go to the secret US base together to strategize," I explain.

"The sooner I get to see you the better," she responds.

I smile at the comment.

"I love you," I say.

"I love you too, John," Sarah says back. Then her voice hardens. "This is not the end, though. Do not give up, and do whatever your instinct says is correct."

"I know, Sarah… It's just, there's so much on my plate, and I let New York be captured, and I lost Nine, and—"

"Woah, hold up," Sarah says. "You can't possibly blame yourself for New York. That was completely out of control."

"You don't understand. I could've killed Setràkus Ra. I could've ended the war. I had an open opportunity. But I protected him instead because I didn't want to hurt Ella."

"John, it's okay. Nobody is mad at you. You'll have your opportunity to end this soon. Just don't give up," she says to me.

I stay quiet, and Sarah does too. I stare at the water and listen to Sarah's breathing through the phone. I feel calm for the first time in a while.

"John…" Sarah starts, "this is really nice, honestly it is, but we need to keep moving. We only have two days, like you said…"

"I know, I know… I'll see you soon," I say.

"I love you," Sarah says sweetly.

"I love you too," I say and hang up the call.


End file.
